New Moon: Jacob's Story
by Phoenix Rises
Summary: See the events of New Moon through Jacob Black's eyes.
1. Preface

**A/N: Hey guys, this story is New Moon entirely from Jacob Black's perspective. If you guys like it, I may write an Eclipse one, too. There will be lines from the book in here, so I just wanted to clarify that I do not own any of the Twilight series or its characters. That genius belongs to the fabulous Stephenie Meyer. Hope you enjoy New Moon: Jacob's Story =]**

_Preface_

Have you ever felt a moment in which you changed? I mean, completely changed. Sometimes, you feel like its going to explode inside you. Sometimes, it's subtle, and you never know when it's going to hit you.

Sometimes, change can be physical or mental. Sometimes, it's both. Either way, it becomes a major turning point in your life.

As I make the change, I can feel everything changing. I will never be the same again.


	2. Reunion

_Reunion_

"Dad!" I called. "What do you want for lunch?"

I heard my dad grunt as he maneuvered his wheelchair into our tiny kitchen, a book open in his lap. I had obviously disturbed his midday reading. He grinned up at me as I turned towards him. His dark brown eyes, which were similar to mine, twinkled brightly. "I don't know, Jake. What have we got?"

I grinned back at him as I turned back to the fridge ad bent down to examine its contents. Once upon a time, I barely had to bend to look inside the fridge. That had all changed over the last few months. I had grown to six five, which was actually really big growth spurt for any teenage boy, I had thought. Not that I was complaining any. It was useful when you had the height and the muscular body to go with it.

"Let's see. There's leftover pizza from last night. That's 'bout it."

"Pizza will do," my dad laughed. I heard him return to the living room to watch his game on the television. I pulled the leftover pizza out of the fridge, placed it on our linoleum counter, and then washed my hands of the grease that was caked all over them from working on my baby. The car I was working on was my pride and joy. I tried working it on it everyday, so that hopefully, it would be up and running very soon.

Once I had my dad's and my lunch heated, I carried it out to the living room and placed the plate of food on the table in front of my dad.

"Aww thanks Jake," Billy exclaimed. "Smells great!"

We sat down together and began to watch the game on the television.

"Been working on the Rabbit, I see," Billy began, nodding towards the grease on my arms.

I grinned widely at him. "Absolutely. Gotta get that car up and running so that I won't have to be seen riding with you anymore," I joked.

"Ha, ha," Billy replied. Soon, the plate of food had disappeared and Billy returned to his reading. I licked my fingers of the pizza oil and was gazing at the television. I listened to the sound of the pouring rain pounding on our roof. The sound was soothing. My mind began wandering with the rain, until I heard a sound that disrupted the rhythm of the rain. It was a loud roaring sound, like an engine. Sounded exactly like our old truck that we sold to Charlie and Bella Swan. I jumped out of the seat, pulled back the curtain and peered through the rain at the faded red Chevy truck. Bella Swan had jumped out of the truck and was beginning to approach the house.

I practically flew to the door, grabbing an umbrella from the stand beside the door as I went. Opening up the umbrella, I ran to meet her halfway towards the house.

"Bella!" Wow, she looked beautiful! Even more beautiful than when I last saw her, and that was when she was dressed up for her prom and she was all bandaged up from her fall in Phoenix. She was healed now, all signs of the damage gone. But as I looked at her now, she still looked damaged. Only it wasn't physical this time. Looking into her eyes, it seemed like almost as if her soul had been torn apart, or as if her heart had been ripped out. It was a blow to my heart, seeing her like this. The girl I loved, or love I should say, looked different. Mentally and emotionally. And I knew exactly why.

"Hey, Jacob!" she called back, and a genuine smile lit up her face. I stopped a few feet away from her, and as he approached me, she craned her neck just to look me in the face. "You grew again!"

I laughed, and smiled even wider. "Six five." My voice was smug. I enjoyed my new found height.

"Is it ever going to stop?" Bella asked, shaking her head in amazement. "You're huge!"

"Still a beanpole, though." I grimaced at the thought. Then, realizing that we were still in the pouring rain, I exclaimed, "Come inside! You're getting all wet."

Leading the way up to the house, I pulled my hair back into the ponytail that I usually wore it in. I figured Bella preferred it that way. When we had met again, my hair was up in its ponytail. Maybe she didn't like it falling into my face?

"Hey, Dad!" I called to Billy as we entered the house. "Look who stopped by."

When Billy saw Bella, he smiled warmly, placed his book in his lap and wheeled himself over to where we were standing. "Well, what do you know! It's good to see you, Bella."

Billy and Bella shook hands, her tiny, delicate hands in his huge ones.

"What brings you here? Everything okay with Charlie?"

"Yes, absolutely," Bella answered. "I just wanted to see Jacob-I haven't seen him in forever."

At her words, my eyes brightened with my smile. She came to see me? Just me? This had to be my lucky day!

"Can you stay for dinner?" Dad asked, seeming eager to see Bella, too.

"No, I've got to feed Charlie, you know."

"I'll call him now. He's always invited."

Bella laughed. "It's not like you'll never see me again. I promise I'll be back soon-so much you'll get sick of me."

Dad chuckled. "Okay, maybe next time."

"So, Bella," I began, "what do you want to do?"

"Whatever. What were you doing before I interrupted?" she asked.

I hesitated. "I was just heading out to work on my car, but we can do something else…"

"No!" she interrupted, rather quickly. "I'd love to see your car."

I was not convinced. "Okay…" I trailed, "it's out the back, in the garage."

Bella waved at Billy. "See you later."

We walked out the back door and down the path that led to my makeshift garage. As we entered, my semi-completed car was raised on cinder blocks.

"What kind of Volkswagen is that?" Bella asked behind me.

Smiling, I replied automatically, "It's an old Rabbit-1986, a classic."

"How's it going?"

"Almost finished." Then, remembering the reason why it was nearly finished, I dropped my voice. "My dad made good on his promise last spring."

"Ah," was her reply. I felt ashamed for bringing it up. Last spring, my dad had bribed me with parts to the Rabbit if I would go to Bella's prom and deliver a message. The message was to warn her to stay away from her boyfriend, Edward Cullen. God knows why! It was widely known throughout Forks and the Quileute reservation that the Cullens had left months ago, much to the pleasure of stupid Sam Uley and his gang. It must be painful for her to hear this.

"Jacob, what do you know about motorcycles?" she asked, surprising me.

I shrugged. "Some. My friend Embry has a dirt bike. We work on it together sometimes. Why?"

"Well…" she trailed thoughtfully. I turned to face her. She was pursing her lips, like she was trying to word some big secret. "I recently acquired a couple of bikes, and they're not in the greatest condition. I wonder if you could get them running?"

I grinned, imagining the challenge. "Cool. I'll give it a try."

She held up a finger in warning. "The thing is, Charlie doesn't approve of motorcycles. Honestly, he'd probably just bust a vein in his forehead if he knew about this. So you can't tell Billy."

"Sure, sure. I understand."

"I'll pay you."

I frowned. "No. I want to help. You can't pay me."

"Well…" she trailed again. "How about a trade, then? I only need one bike-and I'll need lessons, too. So how about this? I'll give you the other bike, and then you can teach me."

"Swee-eet." I replied, liking this plan by the minute. Of course, I already liked it once she had mentioned it.

"Wait a sec-are you legal yet? When's your birthday?" she asked, a little alarmed.

I laughed. "You missed it. I'm sixteen."

"Not that your age ever stopped you before," she muttered under her breath. "Sorry I missed your birthday."

"Don't worry about it. I missed yours. What are you, forty?"

She sniffed. "Close."

"We'll have a joint party to make up for it," I suggested, in order to clear the look of resentment on her face.

"Sounds like a date."

My eyes sparkled of the prospect of being on a date with Bella. My wildest dreams coming true.

"Maybe when the bikes are finished-our present to ourselves," she added after an after-thought.

"Deal. When will you bring them down?"

She bit her lip. To me, the action was adorable. "They're in my truck now."

"Great!" I exclaimed.

"Will Billy see if we bring them around?"

I winked at her. "We'll be sneaky."

With that we left the garage and kept to the trees that surrounded my house. Once we reached her truck, I unloaded both the bikes by myself. As we pushed them back to the garage behind the cover of the trees, I said, "These aren't half bad. This one here," I nodded to the bike under my hands, "will actually be worth something when I'm done-it's an old Harley Sprint."

"That's your's then," Bella replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

We reached the garage and once we were inside, I examined the blackened metal. "These are going to take some cash, though. We'll have to save up for the parts first."

"We nothing," Bella cried, outraged. "If you're doing this for free, I'll pay for the parts."

"I don't know…" I muttered.

"I've got some money saved. College fund, you know."

Thinking about it, I nodded. Since she was offering, it seemed like the only logical way to get the bikes finished quickly. And if I could spend more time with Bella, then bring it on.


	3. Quil & Embry

_Quil & Embry_

I began to pull Bella's bike apart immediately. The blackened metal seemed like it could be easily be replace with the right parts. As I examined the bike, Bella struck up a conversation with me as she watched me from the front seat of the Rabbit.

"So, how's school going?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's going good," I replied cheerfully. "I'm in my sophomore year this year. Pretty interesting, new year and everything."

"I can imagine!" I heard her exclaim. "Senior year is pretty hectic this year."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I definitely think I have the better end of the draw."

"What classes you doing?"

"Umm, let's see. I'm in English, Mathematics, Geography, Biology, Latin and others. Good variety. Embry and Quil are in some of my classes as well."

"Quil and Embry?" Bella replied. "Those are unusual names."

Thinking of my two best friends, I laughed. "Quil's is a hand-me-down, and I think Embry got named after a soap opera star. I can't say anything, though. They fight dirty if you start on their names-they'll tag team you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Good friends."

"No, they are. Just don't mess with their names."

Suddenly, we heard a shout from the distance "Jacob?"

I cringed. Great! Just what I needed! My two buds coming to see with me when I was with a girl. Wonderful!

"Is that Billy?" Bella asked.

I ducked my head and blushed. "No. Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear."

"Jake? Are you out here?" I heard Embry call out.

"Yeah!" I shouted back, and then sighed. This was going to be eventful.

It wasn't too long before my best friends, Embry and Quil appeared inside the garage. Both of them stopped short at the sight of Bella perched in the open seat of the Rabbit. Embry's eyes travelled swiftly between me and Bella, while a small smile slowly spread across Quil's face as he looked at Bella.

"Hey, guys," I greeted them reluctantly.

"Hey, Jake," Quil replied, without taking his eyes off Bella. She smiled at him, and he winked at her. "Hi there."

I spoke up swiftly before Quil got the wrong idea about Bella. "Quil, Embry-this is my friend, Bella."

"Charlie's kid, right?" Quil asked, holding out his hand to her.

"That's right," she replied, shaking his hand.

"I'm Quil Ateara."

"Nice to meet you, Quil."

"Hey, Bella. I'm Embry, Embry Call," Embry introduced himself. "You probably already figured that out, though." He smiled shyly at Bella and waved with one hand. After he shoved his hand back into his pocket. I sighed internally. Well, at least Em wouldn't be embarrassing. Quil, on the other hand…

"Nice to meet you, too." Bella replied, smiling slightly.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Quil asked pointedly, still looking at Bella.

"Bella and I are going to fix up these bikes." I stated simply. Best not to give them ideas.

The mention of the bikes seemed to have perked their interest. Both my friends immediately joined me at the bikes and examined them with me, drilling me with questions about the parts. We got so into it that we seemed to have forgotten that Bella was still in the room. When I saw her slide out of the Rabbit, I figured she must be ready to go, I thought glumly.

I looked up at her, an apologetic look on my face. "We're boring you, aren't we?"

"Naw. I just have to cook dinner for Charlie."

"Oh…well, I'll finish taking these apart tonight and figure out what more we'll need to get start rebuilding them. When do you want to work on them again?"

"Could I come back tomorrow?" she asked in a tone that suggested hope.

I was a bit taken aback, but pretty damn pleased. "That would be great!"

"If you make a list, we can go shopping for parts."

My face fell a little as I remembered how Bella was paying for everything. "I'm still not sure I should let you pay for everything."

She shook her head. "No way. I'm bankrolling this party. You just have to supply the labour and the expertise."

Out of the corner, I saw Embry roll his eyes at Quil. Okay, maybe I was wrong. Em was going to be embarrassing. I decided to ignore it. Don't want to add fuel to the fire.

"That doesn't seem right," I shook my head.

"Jake, if I took these to a mechanic, how much would he charge me?" she quizzed.

I smiled. "Okay, you're getting a deal."

"Not to mention the riding lessons," Bella added with a smile.

I saw Quil grinning like a mad man and whisper something that sounded like, "What is she _riding_ exactly?"

I smacked the back of his head. "That's it, get out!" From the look of confusion on Bella's face, she didn't seem to have heard what he said. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, really, I have to go," Bella replied as she headed for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jacob."

As soon as she was out of sight, Em and Quil rounded on me with a chorus of "WOOOOO!"

I grabbed the both of them in a quick headlock. I heard a "ouch" and a "hey" escape them.

"If either of you set so much as one toe on my land tomorrow, look out!" I threatened. "You will not live to see the next day!"

I released them after that. They both stood at once, Quil rubbing his neck gingerly.

"Jeez, Jake, I was just joking," he amended quickly. "She seems like a pretty cool chick. Where'd you meet her?"

"Her dad and mine are best friends. We've sorta known each other since I was born."

"Ah 'k," Em replied, interested. "So, you like her?"

I felt myself turning red. "I don't know…I guess so."

"We could tell," Quil grinned at me evilly. I blushed harder as I busied myself with the bike. Why did I have to be so obvious? My two best friends could tell how I felt her after meeting her just once.

Suddenly, Quil and I saw Em clutch his stomach. He seemed like he was in pain. "Hey, Em," I asked, walking over to him in concern. "You okay, mate?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay," he gasped. "On second thoughts, maybe I should go home, just in case."

"Yeah, no problem," I replied.

"Come on, I'll drive you," Quil said to him. He nodded, and they both turned to me. "See you, Jake. Have fun tomorrow."

"Yeah I will," I nodded, still concerned for Em. "You just rest up and I'll give you a call later on, 'kay?'

Embry nodded. "Sure," he replied as he grimaced. "Talk to you later, mate."

With that, Em and Quil left, and I was left on my own to contemplate what could possibly be wrong with my best friend.

**A/N: OMG! What's wrong with Embry? Could this be the beginning of his transformation? You'll have to keep reading to find out!!**


	4. More Than Your Age

_More Than Your Age_

The day Bella and I set out to find parts to fix up the bikes. We hit the dump first and then other shops. While shopping, Bella got me talking about things that were going on in my life that I hadn't mentioned yesterday.

"So, any gossip you want to tell me?" she asked. I laughed at hearing her say the word 'gossip'. It was so un-Bella.

"Not much really, except for Quil, of course. He stirred up some trouble at school."

"Really? What he'd do?"

"He walked right up to Lainie Bachman, this popular girl at school whose been dating a senior for quite a while, and asked her out in front of her boyfriend."

She laughed. "No way!'

"Yeah, he did!" I replied enthusiastically. "So now Quil's on that guy's hit list and a few others as well. Quil doesn't mind, though. He seems to enjoy the attention."

She continued to laugh. It felt good to hear her laugh with freedom. I could still see the pain in her eyes, but when she laughed so care-free like she was now; all her torment seemed to disappear.

"I'm doing all the talking!" I said, as she finished laughing. I wanted to get her talking. I wanted to hear her voice again. "Why don't you take a turn? What's going on in Forks? It has to be more exciting than La Push."

She sighed. "Wrong. There's really nothing. Your friends are a lot more interesting than mine. I like your friends. Quil's funny."

I frowned. "I think Quil likes you, too."

She laughed again. "He's a little young for me."

My frown deepened. Quil was a month older than me. If he was too young for her, then surely I was, too. "He's not that much younger than you. It's just a year and a few months."

She replied, her voice light and teasing. "Sure, but, considering the difference in maturity between guys and girls, don't you have to count that in dog years? What does that make me, about twelve years older?"

She paid for the parts at the store, and then we climbed back into her truck. "Okay, but if you're going to get picky like that, you have to average in size, too. You're so small; I'll have to knock ten years off your total."

"Five foot four is perfectly normal. It's not my fault you're a freak."

"Okay then, can you change a tire?" I asked her.

"No," she replied, reluctantly.

I laughed. "Well, that's gotta be at least two years off then."

"Can you do bookkeeping?" she countered.

"No…"

"Well, I'll one of those years back, thank you very much!"

"Fine!" I replied.

We got back to my place in the late afternoon, and Bella was twenty three and I was thirty. I was rather smug at the thought of that.

I worked on the bikes throughout the afternoon. Quil and Em didn't show up. I was still worried about Em. I decided I would give him a call tonight to see how he was feeling. I continued to brood on Em's condition, until a familiar voice broke into my thoughts.

"Bella?" It was Charlie.

Both mine and Bella's head snapped up. Charlie could maneuver his way to the garage, unlike my dad.

"Shoot!" Bella muttered. "Coming!" she yelled out.

I smiled. "Let's go." I switched the light off and grabbed her hand as we left, laughing warmly.

When we reached the house, I found that Billy had invited people over for dinner. Harry Clearwater was there, with his wife, Sue and their kids, Leah and Seth. Leah was nineteen, a year older than Bella. She looked at me and Bella as we entered; seeming disinterested, and then asked Billy if she could make a call on our phone. I never really got along with Leah. We never spoke much and didn't have much in common anyway.

Suddenly, her brother, fifteen year old, gangly Seth, came bounding towards us. "Hey, Jake!" he greeted me enthusiastically. "Hey Bella!" Billy, Harry and Charlie had all been best friends for years, so it was no surprise that Seth knew who Bella was.

"Hi," she greeted with a nice smile. "Seth, right?"

"Yeah! Nice to finally meet you!"

"You too."

Seth smiled a big smile at us and then went to speak to his mother. The entire night went off without a hitch and everybody finally piled out by about 9.00pm. I ran upstairs to take a shower before I gave Em a call. As I pulled my shirt up off my head, I saw something that took me by surprise. Without me knowing, my chest was starting to become very well-defined. I flexed my bicep in the mirror and noticed that the muscles seemed to be getting bigger.

I shrugged, brushing it off to the effects of puberty. I turned on the shower and climbed in.

Once out, I chucked on a pair of old sweats and went back downstairs, shirtless. I wandered into the kitchen to the phone, perched on the wall.

"Woah, Jake!" I heard my dad exclaim as he saw me enter the kitchen. "Working out much?"

I glanced down at my exposed torso. "Um, no…not that I remember. Maybe it's from working on the Rabbit for so long." I shrugged. With that I picked the phone up from the cradle and dialed Embry's home number. It rang once, twice, three, four times, until all I got was their voicemail. "_Hi, you've the Call household. We're not home at the moment…_" I slammed the phone in the cradle and then tried again. Nothing. Three times lucky, I decided. Finally, there was a answer.

"Hello?" It was Embry's mum.

"Hi, this is Jacob Black, I'm Embry's friend."

"Oh, Jake! Hi! How are you honey?" she asked

"I'm fine, thanks. I just wanted to know if I could talk to Embry. I wanted to see if he was okay."

"I'm sorry, Jake, but he's not really feeling well. He's not up to chatting. Can I leave him a message?"

"That's okay. Just let him know that I hope he's getting better and I'll see him at school."

Sure thing, Jacob. Buh-bye." With that she hung up.

I put the phone back in its cradle, more worried than I was before. If Embry was too sick to come to the phone, then I would just have to see him at school sometime next week. I tried to brush off the bad feeling that this situation was giving me. Everything will be okay, I told myself. Em will be fine. You'll see.


	5. Disappearing Act

_Disappearing Act_

The next day was Monday. Dad dropped me off at school and I walked in quickly, looking around for Embry as I went. There was no sign of him at school. The bad feeling inside me increased. But then, reason caught up with me. If Embry was really sick, then he wouldn't be here at school today.

The rest of the school day passed by, and I tried not to be worried. I thought about Bella and the bikes. Well, more of Bella than anything else.

When I got home, I went straight to the bikes. Bella's bike was just about finished. I just needed to add one more part and it was done. After I installed the part, I gave the bike a good polish. Once I was satisfied, I walked to the front of the house to wait for Bella. Checking my watch, I realized Bella was later than what she usually was.

Five minutes later, I heard the roar of the Chevy roll down the street. She turned into my driveway, turned off the engine, and then jumped out of the car. From her behaviour, she seemed to be in a hurry, like she eager to get away from something.

"Hey, Bella!" I called.

The smile that I loved spread across her face. "Hey, Jacob."

"Let's get to work," I said in a low, eager voice.

She laughed. "You seriously aren't getting sick of me yet?"

As I led the way down to my garage, I answered, "Nope. Not yet."

"Please let me know when I start getting on your nerves. I don't want to be a pain."

We walked into the garage, and I heard Bella gasp at the sight of her finished bike. "Jake, you're amazing!"

I laughed. "I get obsessive when I have a major project," I shrugged. "If I had any brains I'd drag it out a bit."

"Why?"

I looked down at my feet and thought about my answer for a minute. Then I answered her. "Bella, if I told you that I couldn't fix these bikes, what would you say?"

When she didn't answer straight away, I glanced up her to check her reaction.

"I would say…that's too bad, but I'll bet we could figure out something else to do. If we got really desperate, we could even do homework."

I smiled and relaxed. Happy with the answer, I sat down next to my bike and picked up a wrench. "So you think you'll still come over when I'm done, then?"

"Is that what you meant?" She shook her head. "I guess I _am_ taking advantage of your very underpriced mechanical skills. But as long as you let me come over, I'll be here."

"Hoping to see Quil again?" I teased her lightly.

"You caught me."

I chuckled. "You really like spending time with me?" I asked her, marveling at the fact that she actually would.

"Very, very much. And I'll prove it. I have to work tomorrow, but Wednesday we'll do something non-mechanical."

"Like what?"

"I have no idea. We can go to my place so you won't be tempted to be obsessive. You could bring your schoolwork-you have to be getting behind, because I know I am."

"Homework might be a good idea." I made a face as I remembered the pile of work I still had to do.

"Yes. We'll have to start being responsible occasionally, or Billy and Charlie aren't going to be so easygoing about this." When she gestured to the both of us as a unit, I beamed.

"Homework once a week?" I asked, grinning.

"Maybe we'd better go with twice."

I sighed heavily, and then reached behind me and pulled out a brown paper bag. I pulled out two warm sodas, cracked open one and handed her that can. Then I opened mine and held it up in a toast.

"Here's to responsibility, twice a week."

"And recklessness everyday in between," she added.

I grinned and touched our cans together.

The next day, Embry didn't turn up at school, either. I was sitting at our usual table at the cafeteria, idly playing with my food, which was very unusual for me. I guess I was too worried about Em to give a damn about eating.

Next thing I knew, Quil had dropped his tray onto the table and sat down next to me. "Em's not here today, either," he observed.

"Yeah…You haven't heard from him, have you?" I asked him.

"No. You?"

I shook my head. "I gave him a ring on a Sunday night, but his mum said he wasn't well enough to answer the phone."

"Okay then," Quil said uncertainly. "You wanna go and see him this afternoon?"

"Yeah! Why not? I need to put my mind to rest."

So, that afternoon, Quil drove the two of us over to Embry's house. There was no car out the front, but we thought we might as well knock on the door and see if he was home. We knocked a few times, but there was no answer. The house seemed deserted.

"I'll go check and see if their car's here," Quil told me and set off towards the back of the house to where the driveway extended. Em's mum usually parked her car around the back of the house. I continued to stare at ted or, as if hoping maybe Embry would burst through the door. Soon, I heard the repetitive crunch of Quil's heavy feet as he run back to me on the gravel driveway. He jumped back onto the porch and ran to my side.

"No car around the back," he informed, barely panting. "No one's home."

I frowned. This was getting weird. Embry was never one to hide from his friends the guy had said that his friends were one of the most important things to him.

"What could be going on?" I questioned Quil, turning to him.

Quil shrugged. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it must be huge. Em wouldn't keep anything from us, so if he can't tell us, then something must be going on."

Then, suddenly, I remembered a few weeks ago when Embry had come over to my place unexpectedly. He looked shaken and jumpy. Apparently, while he was out at Port Angeles, Sam Uley and his gang were following him around at the mall. It had got to the point where Em was so freaked out he just left the shopping strip. Em had said that ever since that incident, whenever he saw Sam and the La Push gang, they looked at him differently. As if they were waiting for something.

"Hey," I began as we reached the car and climbed in. "Remember the time that Embry was all freaked out because of Sam and his gang?"

"Yeah," Quil answered me uncertainly. "What about it?"

"Do you think that maybe this has something to do with Sam? This disappearing act of his?"

Quil's eyes widened in what seemed like fright. "Maybe… That is a very scary possibility. What do you say? Go and find him? Sort this out?"

I nodded. "Yep. I'm not going home until we find him and find out what the hell is going on!"

**A/N: hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in forever. I'm back at school now so I may not update as frequently as I used to, but I will try to find the time to update more =] hope your enjoying! Please comment!**


	6. Weirder By the Minute

_Weirder By the Minute_

Quil and I drove into town, not sure of where to find Embry. We figured that we would try to scour every inch of the town until we found Embry, but we had no luck. There was no sign of him, just Sam Uley's two disciples, Paul and Jared, walking around, looking like they owned the place.

"No sign of him," Quil stated, voicing the thought that was implanted in my brain.

I nodded reluctantly. "Maybe we should head home?"

Quil sighed. "Yeah, that might be the best option. Who knows, he may show up at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe," I replied, a little unconvinced. I reckon Quil wasn't convinced by his own reassurance.

So, the next day, I got dropped off by Dad again and trudged into school, unsure of what I would expect. As I opened my locker and sorted through my books, out of habit, I glanced at Embry's locker just down from mine. What I saw made me do a double take. Embry was there; at his locker, collecting his books like nothing had happened over the last week.

I pulled out my phone and quickly texted to Quil, _He's here, his locker!_ I turned and shut my door quickly, and began to make my way over to him. As I walked, I noticed slight differences in Embry. He seemed taller, like he was standing taller, and no longer crouching. His shoulders seemed wider, and the biggest difference of all; his hair was cut short! I decided then that something had gone down over the last week.

"Hey dude," I greeted him as I approached. He glanced briefly at me, and then continued to rummage in his locker like I wasn't there.

"What's going on?" I continued, a little perturbed by Em's lack of response. "You've been away for a bit. Quil's been getting note-copying withdrawal symptoms," I joked, trying to clear the air, calling on the fact that Quil loved to copy Em's notes, as Em was a very dutiful student. I think on occasion I had called him a nerd.

The only response I got from him was the echo of the locker door being slammed shut. He turned like he was headed to class. Confused with his attitude, I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me. His eyes were colder than usual. This threw me off guard.

"Dude, come on, what's going on? You know you can tell me. Don't act like nothing has happened, 'cause I know it has. I'm not stupid."

"It doesn't concern you, Jacob," was his low reply. "You won't understand. Not yet."

With that, he shrugged off my hand, and walked down the corridor. I lost sight of him as he disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

"Dude, this is friggin weird!" Quil exclaimed later as we drove home from school in his car. "Em practically cold-shoulders you this morning at his locker; he avoids us all day at school; and now he's hanging out with Jared and Paul. Seriously, dude, what the f—"

"Hey," I interrupted. "I'm just as confused as you are."

Earlier, at lunch, Quil and I witnessed Embry completely by-pass us and head over to a table with Jared and Paul. He didn't even glance at us as he passed or at all during lunch. When either Quil or me would try to confront him about what was going on with him, he would either cold-shoulder us or give us a cold glare.

"You think that may be Sam got to him?" Quil asked a loud.

"I wouldn't cross that from the list of possibilities."

Quil shook his head. "He better tell us what's going on. This just gets weirder by the minute."

**A/N: Hey guys, I apologise for not updating in a while. I know this chapter is short, but rest assured, there will be more of Jacob and his friends to come over the next few days. Keep reading and commenting :D. **


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